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With their seventh-round pick, and the final pick of the draft, (No. 211 overall) the Kings selected defenseman Nick Ebert from Windsor of the Ontario Hockey League. Ebert, 18, is listed at 5-foot-11 and 200 pounds and, coincidentally, is a native of New Jersey. Ebert had six goals, 33 assists and a minus-2 in 66 games for Windsor this season.

Ebert, who recorded the hardest shot in a junior “top prospects” competition this season, was once considered a potential first-round pick, but his stock dropped considerably this season.

Talk about an absolute meteoric fall. From top 5 pick to Mr. Irrelephant. Wow. Tough **** for Nick. Hopefully he sees it as a challenge and works his ass off.

Can someone tell me what happened? At one point, he was a top 5 pick, and fell far.

I know a couple years ago, Teemu Pulkinnen fell from top 3 at September to 4th round in June but I mean top 5 to 7th round, last pick of the draft seems like a huge drop-off.

How poorly did he play? What was the problem?

Benefitted a lot from playing with Ryan Ellis his rookie year. Many attribute him for Ebert's point totals. Without him he apparently isn't very good with the puck and he's not good defensively so that makes him not a great prospect from what I've read.

Benefitted a lot from playing with Ryan Ellis his rookie year. Many attribute him for Ebert's point totals. Without him he apparently isn't very good with the puck and he's not good defensively so that makes him not a great prospect from what I've read.

Not so sure about that. This guy has been considered a prodigy since his first year of high school.

Man, what one year can do to your draft stock. At this time last year we're talking about Ebert as a potential top 10 selection in 2012. Now we're left wondering if he can crack the Top 100. There were a lot of problems with Ebert's game that contributed to his fall down the rankings. The main two were consistency and his decision making. Consistency in the sense that some shifts he looked great, others terrible in the very same game. At times, he looked great rushing the puck, using his strong skating ability and puck skill to gain entry into the offensive zone. Other times he looked hesitant to jump into the rush, or would casually carry the puck up ice leading to little. At times, he used his size defensively to engage physically and push forwards off the puck. Other times he looked lazy, relied on the stick check too much, and would get caught standing still in the zone. On the powerplay, he's got an absolute rocket of a shot. But too often he would fire it into shot blockers and had issues getting it through to the net. A lot of people attribute his lack of success this year to the absence of Ryan Ellis on his flank, but I don't think we can use that as an excuse. He's got a ton of potential, so expecting him to carry Windsor defensively, I don't think was an unrealistic expectation. Especially with a year of the USHL, and a year of the OHL under his belt (including a strong playoff run last year). I've heard a lot of rumblings from scouts about a potential attitude problem too. Even still, with all his faults, Ebert still finished 4th among draft eligible defenseman scoring (behind Ceci, Finn, and Graham) with 39 points and was only a -2 defensively. If anything, it shows you what he's capable of if he started putting it all together on a consistent basis.

Like the pick. He got all the physical tools in the world to succeed. Now lets see how NHL coaching can help him turn things around next season. If it turns out this season was just a down year then DL would have hit a home run, if not then its just a 7th pick

I really like how Lombardi and his staff go for the low risk, high reward types in the late stages. It panned out with Jordan Nolan and that was just three seasons ago. They drafted Michael Schumacher in the 7th round last season and he's shown a bit of promise. Even if they don't pan out, it's a 7th round pick, there's nothing to lose at that stage of the draft.

If you want to see just how skilled this kid is with the puck, watch the goal he scores at 1:19 of this video. Of course the pretty goal is then followed up with an ugly defensive play.

He doesn't seem to pay much attention to the details when it comes to defense. See him try to do a lazy poke attempt (more like a tap) as if he's just trying to disrupt a play more so than trying to stop or prevent a play. Ebert needs tons of work in his own end. His passive defensive game and his tendency to join the attack and pinch in deep reminds me of Joe Corvo or Randy Jones, two offensive minded dmen who aren't always aware of what is happening in the defensive zone.

Hahaha I'm looking at a 2013 mock draft and they also have guesses on who the teams would take in the 2012 mock draft (The mock was done in February). Look at who they have us taking in the first round of 2012..

Quote:

21. Los Angeles Kings Brent Pedersen Left Wing Kitchener Rangers OHL The Kings could use a blue chip sniper. The Kitchener Rangers always seem to develop an OHL player into an NHL player. Landeskog, Cody Sol, Ryan Murphy, and Jeff Skinner were Rangers in years past. Marcantuoni, and Faksa look like 2012 draft picks. Brent Pedersen has been impressive as a rookie for the Rangers.

Pedersen went 14th overall to the Rangers in the 2011 OHL Priority Selection. Pedersen has seen limited action as a rookie. Pedersen has 8 goals, 4 assists, and 12 points. Pretty impressive, for someone getting limited minutes.

Hahaha I'm looking at a 2013 mock draft and they also have guesses on who the teams would take in the 2012 mock draft (The mock was done in February). Look at who they have us taking in the first round of 2012..